This invention relates to a method of producing fullerenes and to a device therefor.
Fullerenes are recently discovered carbon molecules. One method for the preparation of fullerenes is disclosed in Nature, 347, 354 (1990) by Kratschmer et al. In this method, a graphite rod is heated in an atmosphere of helium gas at 100 Torr to form soot, from which fullerenes are extracted with benzene. In another method, a DC potential is applied between a pair of graphite rods disposed in a reaction vessel maintained in an inert gas atmosphere, so that an arc discharge occurs with the simultaneous formation of soot, from which fullerenes are isolated by chromatography (Kikuchi et al, Chem. Lett., 9, 1607 (1991)).
Since fullerene-containing soot is dangerous to human bodies and since fullerenes are apt to be decomposed or deteriorated by contact with oxygen, a care should be taken in handling the soot. In this respect the known methods have a problem when practiced on a large scale.